As Many as 10,000 Dead in Burma Cyclone

As Many as
10,000 Dead in Burma Cyclone

Burmese state media say
it is now believed that as many as 10,000 people are dead
and thousands more missing after Tropical Cyclone Nargis
ripped through parts of the country, destroying homes,
bringing down power lines and knocking out communications.
Earlier figures had put the death toll far lower. VOA's Luis
Ramirez reports from our Southeast Asia Bureau in
Bangkok.

With some telephone lines working again and the
airport at the main city, Rangoon, reopened, reports of
death and destruction trickled out of Burma Monday, giving a
glimpse of the extent of the enormous devastation the
cyclone inflicted on the impoverished country.

Among those
arriving in Bangkok Monday, on one of the first flights out
of Rangoon, was Sweden's former Minister of Democracy and
Integration, Jens Orback, who tells VOA the main city is
paralyzed.

"The electricity went out," he said. "The
telephones didn't work. The TV, the radio, the cellular
telephones, everything was wiped out. When talking to
people, they were very upset in the beginning that nobody
from the military, from the police, from the fire forces
were out on the street. Only private people were there with
machetes, actually trying to get rid of the trees.

"I
talked to some civilians on the market and they were a
little bit surprised that nobody was doing anything," he
added. "Because if there's anything that are very present in
Burma otherwise, it's police and military but there were
none of them out in the hours after the
disaster."

Thousands are homeless, and much of the city
remains without water or public transportation.

The few
reports coming in from the countryside suggest the
devastation is widespread. Burmese state radio said nearly
3,000 people were missing in one town, Bogalay, in the
country's Irawaddy River Delta - an area believed to be
especially hard-hit.

In a rare gesture, at a meeting with
foreign diplomats and representatives of U.N. agencies and
international aid organizations, the military government
said it welcomed humanitarian assistance . Analysts say the
military leadership has in the past refrained from accepting
foreign aid for fear of appearing weak.

Burmese officials
called for aid including roofing materials, medicine, tents,
blankets, and water purifying tablets. Thailand, Burma's
neighbor and one of its biggest trading partners, announced
it would airlift aid on Tuesday.

The disaster comes at a
sensitive time for Burma's military junta, which is trying
to build credibility in the face of international criticism
over its violent crackdown last year on Buddhist monks and
other mostly peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators.

The
generals say they plan to go ahead with a constitutional
referendum next Saturday. They say the vote is another step
in the process of returning Burma to democracy following
more than four decades of military rule. Members of the
international community, including the United States, have
called the referendum a sham because the drafting of the
document excluded the country's main opposition
groups.

Professor Win Min, an expert on Burmese politics
at Chiang Mai University in neighboring Thailand, says the
government is taking a risk by pushing ahead with the
referendum at a time when people are struggling to survive
and recover from the disaster.

"Now, people may see
nothing to lose and people may even get angry that the
government is not really caring about them, but just caring
about the referendum," he said. "The urgent need for the
people is not the referendum, but relief."

Adding to
public frustration are rising prices of basic goods. Reports
from Rangoon said the price of gasoline and some basic food
products quadrupled since the cyclone hit.

The United
Nations said it was sending a disaster assessment team into
the country in an effort to mobilize aid. It is not clear
how much access the team will have inside Burma. The Burmese
authorities normally enforce tight restrictions on the
movements of aid organizations in the country.

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